Steve McHugh, chef-owner of Cured restaurant, has been named a finalist for Best Chef-Southwest from the James Beard Foundation, announced today.

This is his first nomination, and he's the only nominee from San Antonio this year. The other finalists are Bryce Gilmore of Barley Swine in Austin, Hugo Ortega of Caracol in Houston, Justin Yu of Oxheart in Houston and Alex Seidel of Fruition in Denver, Colo.

Both Bruce Auden and Andrew Weissman have been finalists for Best Chef-Southwest, and writers Melissa Guerra and Terry Thompson-Anderson have been Beard finalists for their respective cookbooks, but San Antonio has yet to bring home a Beard.

Nine other Texas chefs were nominated as semifinalists this year for Best Chef-Southwest.